A friend of the family
by Auteur
Summary: Blair's in love, but it might be that same love that threatens his life. R
1. Introductions

**_Sentinel: A friend of the family_**

* * *

"This is my stop." Blair said as the car pulled to a stop. The trendy little Mini-Coupe parked in front of the Cascade Police Department and Blair stepped out, as well as an unfamiliar woman. The mocha skinned woman seemed particularly unhappy, lifting her tinted glasses to reveal hazel coloured eyes. "No rest for the weary." he joked. His unruly hair had been tied back, but even so, the ongoing jokes about it would still continue. When he'd first joined the team as an 'Observer', the constant jabs did get at him, but the more he got to know the people he now worked with, the less it bothered him. 

"I'm working until six, and then I've got class until nine." she said, dramatically pouting her lips and hanging her head down in disappointment. She flipped a jet-black tress and tried to cheer up. "Why is it, Mr. Sandburg, that you choose to enter my life at a stage where it's at its most chaotic?" Her arms slowly found their way around his neck and rested comfortably there. 

He shrugged and slid his arms around her waist. "I don't know, the center of calm within the storm I guess." 

"More like the calm before the storm." she corrected. Her tongue slipped passed his lips and found its way to an equally anxious counterpart, snaking its way around what was by now familiar territory. Their lips were locked for some time, providing the only warmth that was evident in the otherwise chilly weather. And when she finally felt it was time to move apart, she kept his lips between her teeth, grinning naughtily.

"Incase you didn't hear me the first hundred times I told you this, you are an amazing kisser." he said, still somewhat dazed. Her fingers smoothed back a stray strand of his hair and moved down to his lips. "And if I don't leave you now, I probably never will."

"That was the plan." 

Blair took a deep breath and walked away from her, even though he knew from experience that he never got away on the first attempt. Like clockwork, he turned back and brought her into one last kiss. "Okay, now I really am going." he tried to say, only to have her drown out his words with another deep kiss. "Debs, I really gotta go."

"I know, I know. But does that stop me from wanting to put the world on pause just for us?" she asked, resting her head on his shoulder. "How about you come over to my place tonight and we order take-out and a movie. I'll fight the fatigue and take a nice hot shower, that ought to get me set for the night."

"As long as there's the prospect of me joining you on that." His expression suddenly changed. "Oh God, I didn't mean it like that. I mean, I'd probably need the nice hot shower, but I wouldn't take it with you... at the same time, not that I wouldn't want to. I mean I would, but only when you would... "

She laughed, an act that, even in Sandburg's state of ineptness, made him happy. "We haven't slept together yet Blair, but that doesn't stop us from talking about it." she said softly. "I'll be ready soon, but not just yet. I'm hoping that you can bear with me."

"I can, and I will." He kissed her forehead and headed for the steps leading up to the front door. He waved her off and watched as the electric blue car speed off and joined the main road. Since having found a girlfriend, life at Major Crimes had lost some of its flair. In fact, he began to feel the day drag on after only a couple of hours. And that wasn't the only factor; MC had been hitting a bit of a rut in the past three weeks to a month, not that he took joy in cases that involved psychopaths, for instance, but they did spark more interest. 

He made to the office and was met with the loud applause of 'the usual crowd'. "Sandburg, how in the hell did you pull that one off?" Detective Brown asked.

"Whatever he did probably isn't legal. No way a looker like that in her right mind would be with him." said Rafe, shaking his head and seeming wholly disturbed by the whole situation. "No way in hell."

"Thanks Rafe, nice to know you have such a high opinion of me." Blair tried to smile.

Jim roped his arm around his neck and led him to the captain's office. "You know what the most embarrassing thing about this is?"

"There's more?"

"I didn't even know that you were dating her. What happened Chief? Decide that this just wasn't worth telling me?" They got into his office, where Jim finally let go of his deadlock grip.

"I guess it just seemed... exciting, you know, meeting her for candlelit rendezvous. We've got romance that I personally thought was long dead in our society today." he explained, falling on uncharacteristically deaf ears. "Sorry Jim."

Ellison mulled over it, having the time since Captain Banks was still on the phone. "Will you at least give me a name?" he sighed.

"Debrah, Khoel." he smiled.

"I'll have it faxed over by the afternoon." Banks ended his call and took a folder from his office drawer. "We've got ourselves a complicated situation here gentlemen." He dropped the files and stood, making sure that the door was closed before proceeding to brief them. "There's a trail of dead bodies leading from Sydney; Australia to Paris; France to England to Nigeria; Africa. The problem is, no one can be sure that they're linked."

"Alright, but what has this got to do with us? I mean, besides the fact that it's not even our jurisdiction, homicide or, FBI should be handling this, not us." Blair said.

"You're right there Sandburg, but I get the feeling this isn't completely by the books. Another body turned up in Oregon over the weekend, and that means it's bordering on our territory. If you ask me, sounds an awful lot like someone's pulling strings from behind the scenes." the captain said thoughtfully, looking out of his office window to the busy street below.

"What do you mean?" Ellison asked.

"All of the victims are from organized crime families. Each of them were involved in either drug operations, weapons smuggling, white-collar crimes. Now, whoever's up there, handing down the case files, wants none of this to be leaked. The only person who should be hearing about this, is Ellison. The case is supposed to go to him because of his outstanding arrest record." said Banks, looking sternly at Sandburg, who nodded in compliance. "We're supposed to be working with the FBI but communication with them is not an option until we're given the go ahead."

"Sounds to me like the crime families in Washington have got their hooks into the government. Though I shouldn't be surprised." 

"Bite your tongue Sandburg. Even though we shouldn't be touching this thing with a flaming ten foot pole, we've got orders to follow and I don't intend to deviate." Captain Banks was visibly uncomfortable with the whole thing, after all, there were just too many unexplained happenings. "Ellison, Sandburg, you're going to Oregon to sweep the scene, find out what you can."

"Captain, I can't, I've got four cases backed up on my desk, two of them I should be wrapping up by today but the other two are piles of paperwork which I should've finished three weeks ago." Jim protested. "If you can find someone who can take them off my hands, I'd be more than happy."

"No, the department has been swamped with paperwork ever since the change over. And if you don't hand in those reports soon, I'm gonna have seniors on my back until you do. That's the kind of grief I can do without." 

"I'll go." Blair offered. "I mean, Oregon isn't too far away and if I find that I need Jim, I'll just call him over." There was a questioning look from the captain. "Well it's better than neither one of us going over there, isn't it. I'd be there a day, two at the most."

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-


	2. More to the story

**_Sentinel: A friend of the family_**

* * *

_Later, that night_

"I'm exhausted." Debrah sighed, adjusting the pillow on Blair's lap so that she could rest her head comfortably. "Exams are coming up, and I could barely lift my legs when we got to the last few stage pieces."

"You should take it easy, running yourself to a standstill with dance and not being able to keep your eyes open for work, it can't carry on forever."

"I know. But right now, I am taking it easy and that's gotta count for something."

He led his fingers along her bare arm. "Yeah, it's gotta. Although, when I'm around you, the last thing_ I _do is take it easy."

"I've noticed I have that effect on you." She tried to sit up but immediately felt a shooting pain in her side. It caught Blair by surprise, and for a moment, he wasn't sure what was going on. "It's alright, just a little mishap in class." Debrah tried to smile, but it didn't convince him in the slightest. From her expression at that moment, it was more than a little mishap.

"Let me see." He fought her protests and lifted her shirt. There was a large bruise on her back, not a good sign at all. "This can't be from a fall in a dance studio Debbie, this is something else."

She stood up and pulled down her top. "I fell, alright. It's because my skin is thin, the bruising comes out worse than it actually is." 

"Did someone do this to you?"

"No!" She sipped at her glass of wine and took a breath. "I fell Blair, so can we just forget about this and move on. I don't want your last night here to end on such a sour note."

He wanted to agree with her, but he also wanted to find out just what had caused her injury. "I'll be gone for about two days, but I want you to see a friend of mine. I'd feel better if you had someone to look out for you. His name is Jim Ellison."

"No!" she exclaimed at the mention of the name. "I mean, I'll be fine, I don't need to be watched over by a cop."

Blair didn't buy it, she was covering something. "I didn't say he was a cop." he said softly.

"I read about him in the newspaper." she said. "Why are you interrogating me?"

"I'm not. I'm trying to keep you safe." 

"I'm not a charity case, Blair. I don't need you to keep me safe." She was worked up, trying to find something to keep busy with. "I think that you should go." The mood had gone from comfortable to defensive in a matter of seconds. "Maybe the couple of days we'll be away from each other will do some good. Have a safe trip, and I'll see you when you get back." He grabbed his coat and stopped at the open door. 

Debrah hung on the handle, looking down at the floor and waiting for him to leave, and he did. 

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- 

_He's left the apartment building. He's in a cab, license 7896, we're in pursuit_

_Do not let him out of your site, do you understand? If we're going to pull this off, he needs to be catalogued._

_Understood. We'll report back once he's reached home._

_Good, I'm counting on you._

_I know_

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_


End file.
